Published: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 at 5:13 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 at 5:13 p.m.

A Thibodaux man accused of decapitating his 7-year-old son told doctors and psychologists he believes the child was a ventriloquist dummy or robot — not a real person.

Testimony began Tuesday to convince a Lafourche Parish judge whether Jeremiah Wright, 31, is fit to stand trial on the charge of the first-degree murder of Jori Lirette, who had cerebral palsy.

While Wright seems to understand the legal proceedings and the charges against him, this delusion has persisted in the 18 months since he was arrested, the expert witnesses said.

Two witnesses for Wright’s defense, a doctor and a psychologist, said they believe this delusion will hinder Wright’s ability to assist his attorneys, which would mean he is unfit to stand trial and would have to return to the medical facility where he was being treated.

However, more than a dozen people are still scheduled to testify in the multiple-day hearing, and Judge John LeBlanc will not decide whether Wright’s stalled court proceedings can continue until the defense and prosecution both have their say.

Dr. Sarah DeLand, a director at the mental health facility that treated Wright, and Robert Storer, a psychologist who formerly worked at the facility, spoke of Wright’s belief that Lirette was a government social experiment. As a result, they said, Wright does not believe there will be any consequences for his alleged act.

“I don’t believe they can do anything to me because it wasn’t a real person,” DeLand said Wright told her during one of their interviews. “His skull was made of plastic. He had foam in him.”

Storer said, based on his tests and observations, he does not believe Wright is faking this belief.

Jori’s mother, Jesslyn Lirette, declined comment Tuesday, though she said she would comment once LeBlanc makes a decision.

Wright is accused of killing Jori on Aug. 14, 2011, in their home while his mother was out. His torso, lower legs and a forearm were found in a plastic bag in a trash can. The boy’s head was found in their yard. Wright was arrested soon afterward.

Though DeLand and Storer work for the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System, which runs the state facility in Jackson that treated Wright, their opinions — based on two or three meetings each with Wright — don’t line up with those of the doctors who treated Wright for nine months.

Those doctors declared him competent and sent him back to the Lafourche Parish jail last year.

“When he was released, he was not diagnosed with a mental illness — you diagnosed him later,” Lafourche Parish District Attorney Cam Morvant II said to DeLand while she was on the witness stand.

After speaking with Wright last week, her third meeting with him, DeLand said she concluded he may have schizoaffective disorder or schizophrenia.

Morvant asked her why, as one of the directors at the hospital, she did not report that information to the hospital. DeLand responded that she had been hired by Wright’s defense to examine him, not the hospital, and she did not think he posed a danger to himself or others.

Morvant asked her, “Do you think you would glean more from him in two hours” than what other doctors did over nine months?

IS HE FAKING IT?

After Wright’s Jackson doctors declared him competent, they also reported he had been exaggerating his illness while at the hospital to avoid trial, according to court documents.

DeLand and Storer presented several reasons they concluded that Wright was not faking mental illness to avoid a life sentence — or the death penalty, which Wright could also face.

One was that Wright had been hospitalized for possible mental illness the February before Lirette’s killing.

At the urging of an unnamed friend, he went to an emergency room and talked about messages he was receiving from the television and hallucinations he was having, DeLand said.

Wright told doctors he was hearing voices, but he believed his relatives put speakers outside the house so he would hear these voices, Storer said.

The doctor wrote Wright a prescription for the anti-psychotic drug Respidol, DeLand said, but she wasn’t sure if he began to take this medication.

After the killing, Wright told DeLand he would hear two or three voices who would call him names, she said. He said these voices might be the actor Matthew McConaughey because he once heard them while he was watching a movie starring the actor.

Storer also said while talking with Wright and administering tests, Wright would tell him he is not mentally ill, though his delusions suggested otherwise.

Wright is “genuinely mentally ill” and “trying to hide the symptoms he was experiencing,” Storer testified, reading from his report he wrote the November after Jori’s death.

After doctors asked Wright what defense he could have during a trial, he responded that a forensic pathologist could explain that Lirette was not a real boy, the experts testified. He added that Jesslyn Lirette, his former girlfriend, could testify on his behalf.

“He still believes the mother of his child would be the best defendant as a character witness for him,” DeLand said.

DELUSIONS AND COMPETENCY

The delusions could be enough to declare Wright unfit to stand trial, said Tulane University law professor Katherine Mattes.

By law, if a defendant does not understand the legal proceedings or cannot assist his attorney, he is unfit, Mattes said.

“Certainly, if a person has a fixed delusion and he doesn’t understand reality, then that can interfere with the person’s ability to communicate with his lawyer about a possible defense,” she said. “If he doesn’t understand the reality of his situation, he’s not going to be effective in conveying information to his lawyer” or understanding his attorney’s advice.

Because Wright’s delusion — that Jori Lirette was not a real person — relates directly to the charges against him, that could keep his case from moving forward, she said.

“I’ve certainly seen cases in which a defendant clearly had a fixed delusion, but it had nothing to do with the defense or the lawyer or anything that would have bearing on the trial,” Mattes said.

It’s still possible that Wright could be declared competent, Mattes said, stressing that she’s unfamiliar with the particulars of the case.

Storer said he asked Wright if he trusted one of his attorneys, Kerry Cuccia. Wright said yes because Cuccia had bought him a Sprite while visiting him and because Cuccia drove from Lafourche Parish to see him.

Storer said he asked Wright which of these was more important in forming his trust, and Wright responded “both.”

Wright wants to plead not guilty, but his attorneys have considered entering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, DeLand said. She asked Wright if this was a problem, and he said no because “either way he’s going home.”

He is being represented by several attorneys with the Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana.

Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or katie.urbaszewski@dailycomet.com.

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